An Orange County man who claims to have been the top selling sales rep for Qwick in California has sued his former employer, claiming he was wrongly fired for continuously raising concerns about Qwick's alleged misclassification of him and other California sales reps as contractors, rather than employees, as allegedly required under California law.
Qwick has denied the allegations.
Qwick provides a technology platform linking skilled hospitality workers with the industry, according to the lawsuit, originally filed in Orange County Superior Court but later transferred to federal court.
The plaintiff, Timothy Jacobs, was hired by Qwick as a business development manager with a base salary of $103,500, the suit said.
"Tim was fired despite being one of the top sales persons in the company," the suit alleges.
The firing was because Jacobs raised the issue of misclassifying temporary employees as contractors, Jacobs alleges.
"This misclassification was illegal and impeded Tim's efforts to secure national accounts Qwick including, but`not limited to Marriot, Sodexo and Compass," the suit says. Qwick was hesitant to make any changes in California because of pending litigation in San Diego, the lawsuit states.
Jacobs seeks damages of at least $250,000, plus legal fees.
He is represented by Daniel S. Latter, of Latter Law Group, of Beverly Hills.
Jacobs v. Qwick Inc., U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 8:23-cv-02009